H. Berger-Münch, the Person

Technology, Independence and Responsibility

Born in 1968 in Regensburg. His father, electrical engineer Heinrich Berger, encouraged analytical thinking, discipline and achievement from an early age. Between the ages of 15 and 18, he was required to spend every summer holiday working full-time at the industrial harbour loading and unloading 25–50 kg sacks alongside day labourers, alcoholics and others – experiencing first-hand what life was like for the lowest social strata, and learning to know them as people. At 18, with his father's death approaching, he was already given responsibility for the family. In 1983, at age 15 and funded by his harbour earnings, he bought his first computer and studied the programming languages Assembler, Basic and Pascal, earning his first income from programming in 1984.

Technical Foundation

After finishing school, he first served in a paratrooper unit, the "Green Devils," then from October 1988 studied electrical engineering at TUM with a focus on automation and control engineering – one of the world's 25 elite universities and the EU's leading technical university – working from 1992 at the institute on fuzzy logic, genetic algorithms and autonomous mobile robotics.

Further studies at TUM: labour and economic sciences, business administration and economics, law, and more.

Technology Becomes Management

Developed project-planning software at Siemens Automotive, later taking on responsibility within the central R&D project organisation staff unit.

Entrepreneurship, International Projects and System Engineering

Management buy-out and founding of Berger-Münch Project Management AG, financed and supported by the Siemens Automotive board. A shift from single projects to multi-project and crisis management, R&D organisation, system engineering and in-house controller/software development, alongside continuous smart-building development. Planning and rollout of proprietary inventions and systems across 16 countries and 36 sites.

Crisis Manager "in the Trenches"

Following a technical failure, he took over management of an international crisis project with €2 billion of revenue at risk and €100 million in pure development costs – a development team of 520 people spread across 6 companies in 7 countries. After building a management team of 4 additional top managers, the project was completed successfully despite every setback. It came at the cost of years of 80–110-hour work weeks, with only 1 "survivor" from the management team, 1 suicide, 2 heart attacks and 1 burnout – but a major success for the corporation; the competing dual-sourcing company collapsed and was shut down.

University Degrees Are Just the Foundation – Continuous Study Matters More

After stepping back from active crisis management and self-imposing a maximum 40-hour work week for clients, he pursued a lifelong commitment to at least 20 hours of study per week in interdisciplinary fields – physics, history, philosophy, IT, economics, tax law, politics, and whatever else was of interest at the time. 23 years of study beyond university.

Buildings, Energy and Investment

With projects such as Petrom City, green heating and greenhouses, the methodology was extended to large building systems; energy and investment projects followed.

BMGE in Portugal

Leading Berger-Münch Engineering, Lda. Earlier fields of experience come together: high-end building engineering, automation, AI/R&D, energy, system integration, project management, real estate assessment and maintenance.